what a charter is for

A project charter is the short document that formally authorizes a project to exist. It answers, in a page or two, why the project matters, what it will (and will not) deliver, who is accountable, and roughly how much time and money it can spend. Its main job is to get everyone with power over the outcome to agree on the same answer before detailed planning starts.
Skipping the charter is the single most common cause of a project that "seemed simple" ballooning in scope: without a written, signed-off definition of success, every stakeholder is free to assume their own version of it.

what goes in one

A charter does not need to be long, but it should cover:

  • Purpose / business case — why this project, why now, what problem it solves.
  • Objectives — the specific, measurable outcomes (see Scope, Goals & Success Criteria).
  • Scope boundaries — a short list of what is explicitly out of scope, which prevents "just one more thing" creep later.
  • Sponsor and key stakeholders — who is accountable for the project's success and who has to approve major changes.
  • High-level budget and timeline — rough enough to be wrong, precise enough to set expectations.
  • Major risks and assumptions — what could derail the project, and what you are assuming to be true without proof yet.

a short example

A regional bakery chain wants a loyalty app. The charter would state the business case (repeat visits have dropped 15% since a competitor launched a rewards program), the objective (a functioning loyalty app live in all 30 locations within two quarters), what is out of scope (no in-app ordering — that is a separate future project), the sponsor (VP of Marketing), a rough budget, and the biggest risk (the point-of-sale vendor may not support the integration needed, which has not yet been confirmed).
Once that page is signed by the sponsor, the PM has something to point back to the next time someone asks "can we also add delivery tracking to this?"

who writes it, who approves it

The PM typically drafts the charter, but the sponsor — the executive who owns the budget and is accountable for the business outcome — approves it. A charter without a sponsor's signature is a wish list, not an authorization.

practical notes

A one-page charter that gets a real signature beats a ten-page charter that gets skimmed. Brevity is a feature, not a shortcut.
When scope disputes come up mid-project, the first move is re-reading the charter's scope boundaries out loud in the meeting — it resolves more arguments than any amount of re-litigating.

related topics

reference